I read Melanie Watson's comments regarding windmills in Scotland (Letters, 4 September) with absolute amazement.
Ms Watson — of Cheshire, England — observes that our landscape is 'bleak and empty and useless for agriculture'. This illustrates that she knows very little about our country.
That bleak and empty landscape, as she puts it, sustains thousands of jobs in tourism, farming, country pursuits and other outdoor activities.
As for windmills being 'harmless with regard to rural ecosystems', think of the tonnes of concrete that go into the foundations of just one of these monstrosities.
Where does the excavated soil go? It's lost on site, creating a totally different landscape.
And what will happen to our gradually disappearing peat reserves? They will be completely wiped out. Only if we have sea upon sea of industrial wind generation sites up here in Scotland will our land be bleak and empty — and useless for anything else afterwards.
The most annoying thing of all is that this electricity is being exported to England. Make your own arrangements.
Mary-Ann MacKinnon, Perthshire
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The Engineer
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